Berlusconi's Praise of Mussolini Demands Condemnation

Mr. Berlusconi allowed that “the racial laws” that the Mussolini regime imposed on Jews were a fault but added that Il Duce “in so many other ways did well.” True, he allied himself with Adolf Hitler, but that was only pragmatism, Mr. Berlusconi suggested, “out of fear that German power might lead to complete victory.” Though Jews were exterminated, including thousands deported from Italy to concentration camps, Italy “did not have the same responsibility as Germany” because its contribution to the Holocaust was “partly unwitting.”